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What is happening to my cacti? Mutant growth

20 years ago

Hey everyone, I recently bought this Cacti ('Echinocereus subinermis') from Gardenworld in Melbourne. It has started to develop this weird 'growth' on the side that looks nothing like the original cacti. Is this normal and just the cacti branching out, or is it an anomaly due to grafting (even though I didn't believe this cacti was grafted). I am confused because the tag said it was a clumping plant.

Picture below.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:2111535}}

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Comments (7)

dendroleon
20 years ago
My FIRST POST to this Forum.

The "weird growth" looks like one of the flower buds on my Echinocereus pentalophus. You should have a nice large yellow flower in a week or so!

According to Anderson in "The Cactus Family" (2001) the subspecies 'inermis' is often spineless and often remains solitary while the subspecies 'ochoterenae' is normally spiney and branches.

Your plant is definitely not grafted.

Best wishes,

Mick.
dendroleon
20 years ago
My Echinicereus subinermis (label lost) from Collectors Corner two years ago now has two flower buds on it. They look just like the mysterious growth on your plant, which I imagine has turned into a flower by now.

Why don't you post a response to the Forum telling what has happened? Other members may be interested, and without follow-ups Forums die!

Regards, Mick.
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dancacti
Original Author
20 years ago
It's a bit of a sad story really. I was so excited after reading that the 'mutant growth' was a flower, I picked it up and showed my girlfriend. (I don't think she was overly impressed.) Anyway, I then put the plant out on a table outside where it would get plenty of sun, and as soon as I put it down, the stalk fell off! I wasn't very happy, but I guess you can't cry over spilt milk... My feeling was that whilst the stalk looked perfectly healthy, maybe the cactus was getting too much water, causing the flower stalk to rot.

There's a few other furry growths on other parts of the cacti, but they haven't progressed to the stage of another stalk yet. Oh well, maybe next year.
Rosiefuture
20 years ago
You often find that with cacti that aren't prepared to support a flower into blooming. Often a cacti will produced quite a few buds but some of them won't develope and they will drop off. My epiphyllums produce numerous buds but only the number that the plant can support will go on to flower, and of those that flower maybe half will produce fruit.

Marion - Rockingham
Joylene
20 years ago
I would reccomend potting your Echinocereus into some fresh mix. Echinocereus grow well with moisture, heat and food through the summer months. The scoria type stuff it is in can't support it for very long. Joylene.
dancacti
Original Author
20 years ago
Hi Joylene, thanks for that. I think I'll give it a go.
It hasn't tried to flower again, which is a shame.
thefof Zone 8/9 UK
20 years ago
Hi Dancacti

Just so that you can show your girlfriend, what she missed, here are a couple of pics of mine, taken this summer in the outdoor bed.
{{gwi:2111536}}
{{gwi:2111537}}

LOL

Fof

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